Yesterday was my first SCCA autocross event and my first chance to really push my 8. Went out with NER (New England Region SCCA) and had a blast! The course was long and fast, the biggest challenge was trying to find the limit in the sweepers and not leaning too hard on the fronts through the slaloms.

I ran 42f/40r for pressures, and the balance was definately too understeery. I think I'm going to try lower fronts (38-40) next time out to see if can get a slightly better balance. Otherwise, the Pilot Sports I have held up great and I might be able to go even lower all around, seems like they have pretty stiff sidewalls, and the rounded edges should like lower pressures.

Downshift from this forum was also there, our times were pretty close and I think we showed that the 8 is a dang good autox weapon, even in the hands of novices

I have a pretty decent video of my runs, if anyone can host an almost 10 meg file, I'd love to share it

 

I had a chance to drive an RX8 on the Pilots at a school I instructed at. They had very good forward bite but did not like much steering input. They seem to really give up on sweepers. I think you would find the Kumho Ecsta MX, BFG kds or the Falkens would be a better choice for street tire autox.

 

Fizzer, will you be at the next one? Hope to see you there. I heard it was a record turn-out with 198 entrants. Amazing! :D

--kC

 

Hey fizzer! It's great to meet another RX-8 driver at the autox. It was sure a lot of people on the last event... and a lot of new cars too! Last event's course is really great. It's the fastest I've seen compared to the last 2 events in Ft. Devens that I went to. I'll most likely attend the second event in NHIS. Hope to see you guys there too.

Hey kC, do rx8club members get discounts from you for the magnetic decals? :D

 

Nice try, but no. I don't do any discounts right now. If anything, the club panels are really cheap.

--kC

 

ULLOSE - Thanks for the input. I think I'm stuck running the pilot sports this season in novice for bugetary reasons... My plan next year is to get dedicated autox wheels and try to get a set of the discontinued hoosiers. DOT slicks are definately a must to be competitive in the non-novice classes, though I think I'll have to be content to follow in Imp/kC's shadow for a while

Imp - I can't make the first NESCC event this upcoming weekend, though I'll be at NHIS for NER#2 and Devens for NESCC #2 (with my mom as a second driver, hehehe). I actually placed a decal order yesterday, and would be glad to take delivery at either of those events. Looking forward to seeing you and the (1)82 BS RX-8 go at it!

Downshift - the feeling was mutual, hopefully we can get some more 8s out there as well to offset the 'Team Neon' representation Although, how fun was it to see them smoke the heck out of the front inside tire on every corner exit?!

 

Hey- As soon as I get an RX8, I am looking you guys up. We'll show up in force!

 

Something you're going to want to keep tabs on is how the pressure increases.

Now that its summer, I've noticed that after two laps, my front tires increase from the 39/40 I start them with all the way up to as much as 44/45. (The rear tires increase less)

Once, I figured that if I kept all four tires at 40 I'd be good - after a fifth lap (I had a re-run) the TPMS sensor went off, and I panicked and thought I had a flat - I had my friends check the tire pressures quick since I was next to race - they were all 55psi+!

Hot day!